Death and Freedom
by Jet556
Summary: Lion-O, Tygra, Cheetara, Claudus and Jaga see how evabon are treated in a slave camp. When one of the slaves dies, a family escapes and somehow end up in Thundera. Will they ever get out of a land where no evabon born is truly free?
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome back, gang. Here is the new evabon story you've been waiting for. Three chapters and you'll love it. Maybe even feel sorry about the evabon.**

**Not Monsters**

Claudus, Lion-O and Tygra all looked over the evabon in the slave camp. Claudus sighed in frustration. Not a single gray skinned evabon in sight! He had encountered the legendary Gard before and knew him to be an evabon, gray skinned but an evabon nonetheless. It was he who had given Claudus the scar on his nose. Claudus would never forget that.

Lion-O walked down the stairs connected to the wall. Tygra followed him. They had never seen evabon before. They were curious about this race.

Tygra then saw an old evabon, green skinned, standing up to a cat with a whip. Tygra starred at this old evabon. To see such courage in something that wasn't a cat was strange to him.

"Pick up those bricks you monster!" The taskmaster was turning red in anger. This monster dared stand up to him?

"We're not monsters!" The evabon stood defiantly at the taskmaster. Tygra felt ashamed that his weapon of choice was a whip. "We're people, same as you!"

"You dare compare yourselves to us?" The taskmaster grabbed a knife off of a table that had meat on it. Within the blink of an eye he threw the knife at the old evabon. Tygra's eyes widened in horror as the old evabon fell onto his back into the mud. There were cries of "Draba!" and "Draba's been murdered!" Tygra walked towards the fallen form and kneeled to look old Draba in the eyes.

"Leave it, Tygra!" Tygra looked up at Claudus.

"I won't leave someone to die in the mud!" This was one of the few times that Tygra did not obey Claudus. This time was for reasons of respect.

"It does not matter." Tygra looked down at Draba. He was fading and fast. "Death is a release for me. I've done what I had to do so Gladius, his wife and infant son could escape." Draba shook his head. "No one should be born a slave." Tears fell from Tygra's eyes as Draba died. He had died so a family could escape. But how did they escape? Tygra then turned his head as Lion-O appeared behind him. Tygra didn't know how he could feel this way about someone that wasn't a cat.

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Ask me later." Tygra picked up the body and placed it on a blanket. He failed to keep Draba from dying in the mud. If only he could find this Gladius and his family.


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back, gang. We now continue this story that I find to be perfect to make my readers feel for the Evabon and not just make them seem like generic fan made characters. Also I introduce the idea of the evabon having their own language.**

**Trapped in Thundera**

Gladius, his wife Kalaharia and their infant son Zantar had escaped the slave camp. To their surprise they found that it had hardly mattered at all. The slave camp was so close to Thundera that they were in danger. Any cats that saw them would probably attack them on sight. They were not safe.

Gladius and Kalaharia were both young, only about twenty years old. Gladius was an evabon with peach colored skin. Not an uncommon color not like gray, which according to the late Draba there had not been any grey skinned evabon in the lands of Thundera for nearly four hundred years. Gladius was at best a father who did not want his son, who was only a month old, to grow up to be a slave and thus he and his red skinned wife escaped. Evabon have their ways of escaping but this time it had been from old Draba's sacrifice that they had been able to escape.

The family had been trapped in Thundera it seemed. There was no way out for them. They wandered through the streets of Thundera, stones being thrown at them with Kalaharia shielding her child.

When nighttime came, their persecution ceased. They were able to wander through the maze that was the streets of Thundera unharmed.

A jaguar, a cleric came upon them. He seemed like he could be as old as the great hero Gard who was portrayed as a monster by non-evabon. Gladius raised his fists but lowered them once he realized the old jaguar meant them no harm.

"No need to fear Jaga." Gladius starred at Jaga. He knew only a little of this strange language. The language of the evabon was vanishing. The longer the slave camp existed the less evabon knew their own language. "What are your names?"

"Names?" Gladius said the word slowly. It was a word he had never heard in the slave camp. Jaga understood. The adults were not like Gard whom he had met and protected from Claudus. Gard could speak the 'trade language' as he called it easily. These two probably weren't able to speak it as easily. In his many years of life, Jaga had learned the Evabon language and could speak it fluently, an accomplishment that not many cats can claim. He spoke to them in their language, explaining that he could give them shelter.

Gladius and Kalaharia spoke to one another. They discussed whether or not Jaga could be trusted. Jaga himself in earshot took no offence to that. It was obvious to him that these evabon came from the slave camp and trusting a cat would be hard for them to decide. Ultimately it was the hungry cries of little Zantar that made them agree to go with Jaga.


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back, gang. As I conclude this chapter I must say that I keep considering doing a story called "Tales of the Evabon" as more or less a means to show how they've been treated during the centuries. Enjoy.**

**So Strange**

Cheetara starred at the evabon. They were so strange to her, so alien, not unlike the first encounter between cats and evabon. Their language was so hard for her to understand. Jaga could understand it and yet she couldn't. Was this some sort of skill that older clerics came to have?

"What are they saying?" Cheetara looked at the old jaguar.

"Listen with your heart, Cheetara, that is the greatest key to translation." Jaga was wise yet Cheetara couldn't master that so quickly. "If that doesn't work I'll explain later."

At one point, Cheetara heard Gladius say "Gard." So it seemed that these strange creatures knew about that monster. Neither Gladius nor Kalaharia looked any better with the scars on their bodies. Little Zantar alone was free of scars. Cheetara walked towards the evabon family, huddled in a corner as they spoke. Gladius paid her no mind. Kalaharia on the other hand held Zantar close to her. She did not trust this cheetah. In truth she did not trust anyone but her husband. She was being protective of her baby. Maybe over protective but her race was treated cruelly by the other races. She had a reason.

Cheetara extended a hand to touch the baby. Kalaharia, rather angrily, bared her teeth and turned her back on Cheetara. Cheetara watched as Gladius slammed a fist on the ground. Cheetara understood and walked back to Jaga.

"What are we going to do with them?" Cheetara looked at the evabon, trying to keep each other safe. They looked so frightened.

"I will take them to a friend who can guide them far from here." Cheetara found that when morning came, the evabon were gone and so was Jaga. He had taken them to that friend of his.

Gard stood on a rock overlooking the plains. A part of the wilderness where he would forever live, he starred as Jaga led a family of evabon. The couple pointed at Gard in awe.

"Was astral projection really necessary?" Gard looked down at Jaga. The old jaguar smiled at his friend.

"There are some things that only I know and it was the only way to reach you so quickly." Gard did not smile. "Don't you learn a lot when you live for centuries?" Jaga wasn't as old as Gard but he was old, old enough to have defeated the ancestor of Ratar-O in his youth. "Will you guide these three through the wilderness." Gard nodded. "I know I'm the only cat you trust but I must ask you this. Will you ever trust any other cats?"

"No, of all the other races I've been hunted by cats the most." Gard sighed. "I am doomed to remain here till the end of time." Jaga shook his head.

"Alright then." Gard watched as Jaga walked away. Not knowing this would be the last time he ever saw the jaguar. Gard looked at the family before him. He hopped down from the rock and waved for them to come closer.

"Bentan!" The family followed Gard. They understood the language of the evabon better than they did the 'trade language.' They would be safe with Gard.

**The End**

**Next week a new story will involve Panthro and Grune so until then read and review.**


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